Forget about Zurich. Take the train here.

By Chantal Panozzo

Ah, the great Swiss cities. High standards of living. Clean streets. Safe for children. In the 2010 Mercer Quality of Living survey, three Swiss cities made the top 10.  And I’ve got three words for that: Blah. Blah. Blah.

Yes, this is all true. Yes, Switzerland is wonderful. But we’ve heard it all before and all of these facts about perfection are starting to bore me.

It’s time to have fun. Fun in Switzerland? Yes. It is possible. So in this post we will not be talking Zurich, Geneva, or Bern. We will be talking about Bitsch. And Bubikon. And Locarno FART. These are all proper Swiss cities. Cities so great, they make you get out your camera before you even leave the train station.

And there’s more: Buttikon. Wankdorf. Weggis. Wow. You have to admit, we expats in Switzerland live in a great country.

My little Swiss town even celebrates a thing called Badenfahrt where you can buy a shirt that says “Baden” on the front and “Fahrt” on the back. Yes. They wear them proudly. And no, I am not above bathroom humor.

But it makes me wonder—what English words do German and French speakers find hilarious? One of my Swiss friends likes the word “saliva.” He thinks it sounds like the name of a transvestite. Another Swiss friend cringes at the word “pickle” because it sounds like the German word for “pimple.”

Oh, and to sum it all up, I have had multiple opportunities to shop at Anis in Wunderland in Zurich, but if you live far away, never fear, you can just visit their website: www.anismodel.ch. Oh, and I live on the Badstrasse. Which, in German, is quite pleasant, but auf Englisch, it is probably not such a good thing.

What’s your favorite Swiss city?

Jump in Lake Zurich. People do that.

By Chantal Panozzo

I’m not complaining about the heat. I’ve been dying for summer ever since, oh, last fall, but when it actually gets hot in Switzerland, it can be hard to deal with for one reason: no air conditioning.

Whether I’m sweating in a conference room, on a train, or in a store, I always look around at the other people and wonder what’s wrong with them.

The Swiss don’t seem to sweat. They shut the window on the train when I open it, they wear stiletto boots in the summer, and then they all sit there in long pants watching me sweat in my tank top.

Ok. Maybe I am complaining about the heat.

I don’t know if I can’t deal with hot because I grew up with A/C and my body is now in denial, but it’s a strange phenomenon. Anyhow. The point is that some of us expats in Switzerland may need a little cooling off. So here are a few suggestions of where to go and what to do:

One: The local swimming pool. Most communities in Switzerland have fantastic facilities—clean, inexpensive (yes), and in beautiful settings—next to lakes, on hilltops, or beside rivers. Check your local city’s website to locate yours.

Two: Drink a local beer. Many towns in Switzerland have their own breweries and distribute their beer only locally. For example, in Baden, they produce Müller beer and it’s hard to find outside the city. But you can enjoy a glass at the beer garden, right next to the Müller Brewery.

Three: Float down the river. In Zurich, Baden, Bern and other Swiss cities, there are banks on their respective rivers that are used as “beaches” and there are also designated sections of each river on which you can float on a raft along with the current.

Four: Water-ski. Only the Swiss would combine a ski lift with a lake so you can water-ski on Lake Neuchatel while a rope tow pulls you along at 18 miles an hour. I haven’t tried it since I can’t even ski on snow, but for those of you that can, have fun.

Where do you go to cool off in Switzerland?

Chantal Panozzo is a writer in Switzerland who has written for a variety of publications on two continents. She’s the author of One Big Yodel, a blog about life in Switzerland and moving abroad, and also discusses living abroad as a freelancer at Writer Abroad.